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What's the best parenting advice you might not read about?

09.01.2018

Let them play free and grow wild!

It’s time to take action. Us modern parents are hovering, helicoptering and hoovering up our kids’ ability to be wild and play free in nature.

And it’s not good for our kids. Today, kids are more likely to wind up in hospital falling out of a bed than a tree. And rather than getting broken bones, kids are suffering from obesity, anxiety and repetitive stress injuries.

Kids today spend too much time indoors, on screens and involved in activities organised by adults. There is enough academic research today that shows over-protecting and over-scheduling kids can harm their mental and physical development.

In 2015, a long-term study by UCL tracking families from 1946 to the present day found that parents who exerted too much control over their children could be causing them lifelong psychological damage.

Pediatric occupational therapists report an alarming rise in sensory, motor and cognitive issues in kids who don’t move and play freely from an early age; as they grow up, they struggle to cope at school.

The BBC reported that by the time a child turns 8 her or she will be spending an average 6 hours in front of a screen every day. So, it’s not surprising that kids playing outside after school with their friends risks extinction.

As well as restricting how our kids' play, we're also restricting how their bodies and brains grow with what we put on their feet. Our feet have as many nerve endings as our hands do, so the more sensory messages growing brains get from our feet – the better. Letting kids go barefoot also helps their feet grow strong and flexible for balanced and skilful movement.

Kids walking, running and playing in barely-there, sustainable Vivobarefoot shoes helps keep these vital sensory messages whizzing from feet to brains – ideal to help them run wild.

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